Founder & Managing Principal, The Gates Dunaway Group
Gates Dunaway is the founder and managing Principal of the Gates Dunaway Group. Gates is an authority on preservation issues, with a deep passion for this work. Fifteen years with regional and local non-profit affordable housing developers allowed her to develop expertise in affordable housing preservation transactions. She also spent two years at the helm of the Blaine County (Idaho) Housing Authority on public policy incentives for workforce housing, restarting the valley’s focus on attracting quality LIHTC developments. In her last company she originated and led a focused, full-service consulting business, working with clients to preserve and improve their properties through a variety of approaches.
Gates brings a focus and her experience to small and mid-sized non-profits, helping them to think through their affordable housing preservation options, and then walking with them through the refinancing process. Her strength is in her development of best-practices that are adapted uniquely for each client, recognizing that every property and client is different, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not honor this individuality.
Gates has been an active educator on the topic of affordable housing development and preservation, having been a visiting lecturer in the Georgia Tech City Planning program. In 2012 she was approved by HUD as a “Subject Matter Expert” and she co-facilitated 13 three-day courses for HUD, entitled “Partners in Housing: Multifamily Preservation Training”, including the two webinars for HUD that can be found on the HUD YouTube channel. She is a frequent speaker at a variety of trade associations and conferences, focusing her presentations on helping owners understand their preservation options. Gates serves on the board of the Institute for Aging, a sister non-profit to LeadingAge Georgia, and is also a special consultant to the National LeadingAge organization on all matters related to preservation financing.
